High lift bucket



HIGH LIFT BUCKET ATTQRNEY July 28, 1970 P. F. MCADAMS HIGH LIFT BUCKET 4 Sheetwet i.;

Filed Jan. 17, 1969 FIG. 2

ATTORNEY July 2s, 1970 P, F, MCADAMS 3,521,733

HIGH LIFT BUCKET Filed Jan. 17, 1969 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 t 1\"\ HvmR PAUL F. MCADAMS ATTORNEY July 28, 1970 P. F. MGADAMS HIGH LIFT BUCKET 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 17, 1969 1 'vx'fivl'UR PAUL. F. MCADAMS fy- ML ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,521,783 Patented July 28, 1970 3,521,783 HIGH LIFT BUCKET Paul F. McAdams, St. Joseph, Mich., assignor to Clark Equipment Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 17, 1969, Ser. No. 792,040 Int. Cl. E02f 3/ 04 U.S. Cl. 214-780 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A loader apparatus for a tractor shovel or loader. At the outer end of an elevatable boom is a carrier member. A bucket is pivotally mounted on the carrier member and is normally latched to the carrier member. Means are provided responsive to initial dumping movement for unlatching the bucket from the carrier member and pivoting it about the outer end of the carrier member to provide greater height and reach for dumping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to tractor shovels or loaders having a boom arm structure which is pivoted at its inner end on the body of the vehicle or other equivalent structure and has the bucket and related mechanism located at the outer end of the boom arm structure. Means are provided for raising and lowering the boom arm to raise the bucket to dumping position and return it again to the digging or loading position. Means are also provided to cause dumping of the bucket when it has reached the desired elevated position. Various structures have been proposed and used heretofore for achieving a greater dumping height and a longer reach in mechanisms of this type, however, they have disadvantages such as increasing the overall length of the vehicle, increasing the distance of the bucket from the vehicle body during the digging operation which is generally not desirable, adding a cable meghanism for dumping the bucket, and in other ways increasing the cost and complexity while decreasing the reliability. The present apparatus overcomes such objections and at the same time provides a rugged and reliable construction with higher lift and longer reach than a conventional apparatus of similar type.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one preferred mode or form of my invention I provide a loader apparatus for a vehicle which includes an outwardly projecting boom arm structure pivotally mounted on the vehicle body to be moved upwardly and downwardly between dumping and loading positions. A carrier member is pivotally mounted at the outer end of the boom structure. The bucket is pivotally mounted on the carrier and is normally latched thereto. Means are provided responsive to the initial dumping movement of the boom arm structure for unlatching the bucket from the carrier member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. l is a partial side elevational View of a vehicle embodying a preferred form of the loader apparatus of this invention with the bucket in the loading position and partially in section,

FIG. 2 shows the bucket pivoted back from the digging position and also another position in which the bucket has been elevated,

FIG. 3 shows the bucket partially dumped,

FIG. 4 shows the bucket fully dumped, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the front of the bucket on a reduced scale.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The numeral 10 on the drawing designates generally a rubber-tired tractor shovel having four wheel drive, for digging and loading. The tractor shovel includes a pair of front wheels 12, only one of which is visible on the drawing, and a pair of rear wheels 14, one of which is partially visible in FIGS. l and 2 of the drawing. These wheels are operated from an engine through a suitable transmission, axles and other drive train components in the usual manner. The vehicle 10 and the loader apparatus mounted thereon are operated from an operators station indicated generally by the numeral 16 and comprising a steering wheel 18, a seat 20 and the necessary levers and other devices.

The loader apparatus portion is designated generally by the numeral 22 and comprises a pair of boom arms 24, one adjacent each side of the vehicle 10 and pivoted at 26 on the body 27 of the vehicle. It will be understood that while only one boom arm is visible on the drawing that there is another allochirally related boom arm on the other side of the vehicle along with the additional mechanism associated therewith.

At the outer end of each of the boom arms is a bucket carrier member 28 which is pivotally connected at 30 near the outer end of the boom arm, and is also pivotally connected at 32 to the bucket. As illustrated, the two bucket `carrier members are not connected to each other, and each of them is nested within an open-bottom tunnel portion 34 on the bottom of the bucket so that in the loading position of FIG. 1 the carrier members 28 do not project below the bottom 36 of the bucket. Each carrier member 28 has a projection or abutment portion 29 at the lower rear portion thereof for a purpose described hereinafter. FIG. 5 shows the appearance of the bucket from the front, in the loading position.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the bucket 38 is latched to the carrier members 28 by means of a pair of latching mechanisms, one on each side, that is, one adjacent each of the boom arms. Each latching mechanism comprises a latch member 40 which engages a detent 42, as shown, in the latching position. The latch member 40 is urged toward the latched position by means of a leaf spring 44.

To accomplish unlatching of the latch mechanism in a. manner explained hereinafter a projection 46 is provided on a bracket 48 which is secured to the side of the boom arm. At the desired time the projection 46 engages the latch member 40 and unlatches the bucket from the carrier member, and this occurs on both sides of the machine so that the bucket is unlatched from both of the carrier members.

T o operate the bucket between the digging position of FIG. l and the other positions illustrated in subsequent figures, the following mechanism is provided. A linear hydraulic actuator 50` is connected between a pivot point 52 on the :body 27 of the vehicle anda lever 54 which is pivotally mounted at 56 on the boom arm structure. Another linear actuator 58 is pivotally connected between the bottom of lever 54 and location 60 on the bucket which is on a brace member 62 which projects rearwardly from the rear surface of the bucket.

To move the bucket 38 from the loading position of FIG. l to the rolled back carrying position which is illustrated in solid lines near the bottom of FIG. 2 the actuator 50 is extended which pivots lever 54 clockwise and through actuator 58, which acts as a xed link under the circumstances, pivots the bucket counterclockwise about the pivot axis 30.

To elevate the bucket from the lower solid line carrying position of FIG. 2 to the upper position illustrated in FIG. 2 two linear hydraulic actuators 64, one on each side of the machine, are extended; in FIG. 2 the boom arms 24, actuators 50 and 58 and lever 54 are shown in dot-dash lines in the raised position to distinguish it from the carrying position, It will be observed that as the bucket is raised from the lower to the upper position of FIG. 2 that projection 46 approaches more closely to latch member 40.

The dumping of the contents of the bucket takes place in two stages as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. As shown in FIG. 3, actuator 50 is retracted first, pivoting lever 54 to the position indicated and thereby pivoting the bucket 38 to the position of FIG. 3 about pivot axis 30. Such pivotal movement causes the bucket to pivot clockwise until the abutment portion 29 on the carrier member engages end surface 25 of boom arm 24- in which position the carrier member 28 extends outwardly from the end of boom arm 24. At the same time the projection 46 engages the latch member 40 and unlatches same from detent 42; this makes possible the extension of actuator 58.

Then, actuator 58 is extended and in conjunction with the completion of the retraction of actuator 50, completes the dumping of the bucket to the position illustrated in FIG. 4 by pivoting the bucket upwardly and outwardly about the pivot axis 32. The actuation of both actuators S and 58 is remotely controlled by the operator of the machine in the usual manner.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, as actuator 50 is retracted and the bucket 38 pivots clockwise the latch member 40 comes in Contact with projection 46 and the latching mechanism is thereby unlatched. It will be appreciated that the exact point at which unlatching occurs will depend upon the height of the bucket and also the angle of the bucket when the dumping operation starts. In any event, by the time actuator 50 is completely retracted the lacthing mechanism is unlatched and actuator 50 is then free to extend and complete the dumping operation. The actuator 50 initiates the dumping operation by pivoting the bucket about the pivot 30 and the actuator 53 cornpletes the dumping operation by pivoting the bucket about the pivot 32.

In returning the bucket 38 from the fully dumped position ofFIG. 4 to the digging or loading position it is important that actuator 58 be retracted first prior to the time that actuator 50 is exended. This will cause latch member 40, urged by spring 44, to re-engage with detent 42. Then when actuators 50 are extended to the proper position and the boom arms 24 are lowered the bucket is ready for another digging or loading operation.

It will be appreciated that while bucket is referred to in the following claims that the present invention is not limited to a bucket but is applicable also with other equivalent devices such as a fork mechanism for example. Therefore, reference to bucket in the claims is intended to mean any equivalent load handling or load engaging device. While I have described and illustrated herein a preferred embodiment of my invention in accordance with the statute, it will be understood that modifications may be made. I intend to cover by the appended claims all modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A loader apparatus comprising an elongated boom arm adapted to be pivoted near one end on a vehicle, the other end thereof projecting outwardly in horizontally disposed relation for raising and lowering movement, an outwardly projecting carrier member pivotally mounted adjacent the said other end of the boom arm, a bucket pivotally mounted on the said carrier member, means for latching the said bucket to the said carrier member, and means responsive to the initial dumping movement of the said bucket for unlatching the bucket from the carrier member.

2. A loader apparatus as specified in claim 1 which includes an actuator for pivoting both the bucket and the bucket carrier latched thereto with respect to the said boom arms.

3. A loader apparatus as specified in claim 2 which includes a second actuator for pivoting the said bucket with respect to the said carrier member after it has been unlatched from the carrier member.

4. A loader apparatus as specified in claim 1 in which the said carrier member has an abutment portion which abuts a portion of the boom arm during the said dumping movement and remains in such abutting position during the remainder of dumping movement.

5. A loader apparatus comprising an elongated boom arm adapted to be pivoted near one end on a vehicle, the other end thereof projecting outwardly in horizontally disposed relation for raising and lowering movement between dumping and loading positions, a carrier member pivotally mounted adjacent the other end of said boom arm and having an outwardly projecting portion thereon, a bucket pivotally mounted on the said carrier member near the outer end of the said outwardly projecting portion thereof, means for latching the said bucket to the said carrier member including a latch member carried by the said bucket, and means responsive to the initial dumping movement of the said bucket for unlatching the bucket from the carrier member, said means including an upwardly disposed projection adjacent the outer end of the said boom arm which moves adjacent the said latch member in the raised position.

6. A loader apparatus as specified in claim 5 in which the mechanism for dumping the said bucket comprises a lever pivotally mounted on the said boom arm, a first linear actuator connected between one end of the said lever and the vehicle and another actuator connected between the other end of the said lever and the said bucket.

7. A loader apparatus as specified in claim 6 in which the said carrier member has an abutment portion thereon which engages an abutment portion near the outer end of the said boom arm during the dumping movement of the bucket and remains in such abutting position during the remainder of dumping movement.

8. A loader apparatus as specified in claim 7 in which the said rst mentioned linear actuator is arranged to be retracted to initiate the dumping movement of the said bucket, unlatching the said bucket from the said carrier member and moving the carrier member into abutment with the said boom arm, and the said second actuator is then extended to complete the dumping of the bucket by pivoting the bucket about its said pivot point near the outer end of the said carrier member.

9. A loader apparatus as specified in claim 5 in which the said latching means includes a detent member mounted on the said carrier member and arranged to be engaged by the said latch member when the bucket is latched to the carrier, and a spring carried by the said bucket for urging the said latch member into engagement with the said detent.

10. A loader apparatus as specified in claim 7 in which the said outwardly projecting portion of the said carrier member extends approximately in alignment with the said boom arm and forms an extension thereof when the two are in abutment with each other during the last portion of the dumping operation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,160,299 12/1964 Hartke 214-768 HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

